Thursday, January 27, 2011

I finished 8 more Boomerang blocks. I'm having a good time with these - see how they are all so different? I'm using several different sources for patterns: Quilter's Cache on the internet, the Quilter's Block-a-Day Calendar by Debby Kratovil, the Quilt Block Tool application on my iphone, and some other assorted web pages.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Man, am I tired! Yesterday, I arrived at 8:30 am - I'd signed up to do two volunteer shifts and the first one was supposed to be at 9:00. My foot had been hurting all week ( I have a bone spur in my heel) and I told the volunteer coordinator that I was only going to do one shift. She needed me at noon, so I had until then to do my "shopping" and viewing of the quilts.

I took pictures of many of my favorites:

"Christmas All Around" by Sherry Reynolds of Laramie, Wyoming

I met Sherry on Wednesday night during the preview show, and was able to get her to pose with her quilt.

I put this one in to show what a "white glove volunteer" does. That's what I did for 2 hours Wednesday night and again Saturday morning.

"One Plus Twelve" by Margit Kagerer of Carefree, Arizona

"Venice Compass Rose" by Erin Woodward of Kernville, California

"Obsession" by Diane Becka of North Bend, Washington. This one's a miniature quilt.

"Mini Diamonds #2" by Rita Hutchens of Sandpoint, Idaho. This is also a miniature.

I joined a new swap - and it is probably the most enjoyable swap I've been in yet. It's on the Quilters' Message Board, and it's called Boomerang.There are 36 of us in a group. I send a Fat Eighth of fabric to all the other 35. They create a 12.5" block with my fabric, adding in some of their own, and send it back to me. I end up with 35 different blocks all using my fabric.

I received the first three Fat Eighths yesterday, and got to work on the blocks.

#1 Gentleman's Fancy

Lisa sent red fabric, and requested that her block include black and white. I had this black-on-white print and some black solid, and created this block for her.

#2 Chain of Squares

Ann sent this yellow Southwestern fabric, and I had just the right accents for it. They probably come from the same line - the teal and purple sun swirls went perfectly with her fabric.

#3 Castles in Spain

Linda sent the red tiny floral - which had yellow, green, white and blue. I decided to add a larger yellow & white floral and a blue that matched the blue in the red floral.

Now that I've finished washing all my fabric (that I have to send out), I need to go cut and iron it. Then I have to put it in plastic and then in an envelope, and type the notes I'm sending with it. Tomorrow I'll get it in the mail.

This is really fun because I get to do something different with each piece of fabric. There's no boring repetition. I'm looking forward to seeing what the gals do with mine - I chose (for 27 pieces) a dusty rose, and for the rest a brown that will go with the rose. I did'nt want to go buy fabric just for this; I just wanted to use what I had in my stash.

I finished the quilt top for the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt! In looking for the right fabric to use for sashing, I decided to try red - and it's a nice-looking red. I used white for the cornerstones and border. Since I did all 111 of the blocks, I have a queen-sized quilt that I'm going to get quilted and give to my sister Eileen.